Then I remembered my father’s betrayal, and my optimism disappeared. This was no small feat for a former undocumented immigrant from Mexico. The key to the American Dream will soon be mine, I told myself. I was transferring to the University of California, Santa Cruz, leaving to pursue the wild dream of becoming the first in my family to earn a university degree.

The other half of me faced north with excitement, optimistic despite my fears. The city fell farther and farther behind me, the smog blanketing the buildings as if Los Angeles were already wrapped in the haze of memory. Half of me wanted to turn back, to stay in Los Angeles and fight for my family-my father, my mother, my sisters and brothers-stay by their side even though our relationship was in ruins.

We drove north on I-5, and I felt divided in half, like this highway I was on-one side going north, the other going south. ExcerptĮVERY MINUTE THAT went by, another mile separated me from my family.

Told in Reyna’s exquisite, heartfelt prose, A Dream Called Home demonstrates how, by daring to pursue her dreams, Reyna was able to build the one thing she had always longed for: a home that would endure. Through it all, Reyna is determined to make the impossible possible, going from undocumented immigrant of little means to “a fierce, smart, shimmering light of a writer” (Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild) a National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist whose “power is growing with every book” (Luis Alberto Urrea, Pultizer Prize finalist) and a proud mother of two beautiful children who will never have to know the pain of poverty and neglect. Again, she finds solace in words, holding fast to her vision of becoming a writer, only to discover she knows nothing about what it takes to make a career out of a dream.

Taking refuge in words, Reyna’s love of reading and writing propels her to rise above until she achieves the impossible and is accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz.Īlthough her acceptance is a triumph, the actual experience of American college life is intimidating and unfamiliar for someone like Reyna, who is now estranged from her family and support system. “Here is a life story so unbelievable, it could only be true.” -Sandra Cisneros, bestselling author of The House on Mango Streetįrom bestselling author of the remarkable memoir The Distance Between Us comes an inspiring account of one woman’s quest to find her place in America as a first-generation Latina university student and aspiring writer determined to build a new life for her family one fearless word at a time.Īs an immigrant in an unfamiliar country, with an indifferent mother and abusive father, Reyna had few resources at her disposal.

Reyna grande a dream called home